March is Women's History Month - Celebrate Women of
Achievement and Herstory - Episode #04 for the special
History Month 2000 observance series
By Irene Stuber
Jerrie Cobb (b. 03-05-1931) pilot, was the first woman
to qualify as an American astronaut and was the first astronaut
rejected because she was a woman.
At 21 JC had become the only female international
ferry pilot in the United States. As chief pilot, she flew over
wild terrain and mountains, once being arrested as a spy after
a
forced landing in South America.
JC passed the same 87 physical and psychological tests
administered by NASA in the selection of the original seven
male astronauts. Several women, including Cobb, surpassed
the test results of the men who were chosen (including John
Glenn).
NASA officials admitted later in a Congressional
investigation that they had no intentions of allowing women to
pilot space craft.
JC is one of the four Americans to hold the Golden
Wings of the Federation Aeronautique Internationale and was
chosen 1959 pilot of the year by the National Pilot's
association.
She was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for her piloting of
medical supplies into dangerous South American locations.
Two of the other noted women pilots tested by NASA (and
passed the tests) were Wally Funk and Bernice Steadman.
When John Glenn was selected as a senior citizen to
return to space, many of Jerrie Cobb's friends and admirerers
campaigned to get her into space.
The efforts to honor Jerrie Cobb faied and Glenn went
up and endangered the mission, a fact that was kept secret for
a
long time. NASA attempted to cover up Glenn's physical
breakdown in space that almost caused an abort, amongst
other
things.
^ W ^ O^ A ^
Janet Guthrie (b. 03-07-1938) an aerospace engineer,
was one of the first four women to qualify for the scientist-
astronaut program of NASA and then disqualified when a
Ph.D. was made a requirement.
Guthrie was the first woman to drive in the Indianapolis
500, finishing ninth in 1978. Her other races had engine
trouble. *The race officials did not even allow women in the
repair and refueling pits at the Indy until a lawsuit in 1972.*
Guthrie could fly more than 20 types of aircraft. She
was named to the Women's Sports Hall of Fame in 1980 - but
never an astronaut although dozens of men were part of the
program who did not have advanced degrees.
^ W ^ O^ A ^
Event 02-05-1777, Georgia's constitution abrogated the
European male prerogative of entail and primogeniture, those
two bulwarks of ancient patriarchal thievery.
Under primogeniture, the eldest male received all the
inheritance and women - even the wife - got nothing. When
there were no male children (even though there might be girl
children), the estate went to the oldest male distant relative.
Hand-in-hand with primogeniture were the laws which
gave ALL property (including clothes) owned by a woman, or
her income from her own work to her husband or father.
Thomas Jefferson abolished primogeniture for Virginia
in 1776 and the other colonies followed suit.
The Napoleonic Code abolished it in France after their
own revolution but it wasn't until 1925 that the Administration
of Estates Act abolished it in England. However, some estates
are still bound to primageniture.
Modern laws attempt to protect wives and equalize the
distribution of inheritance between sons and daughters but
trusts and personal prejudices continually tip inheritances
towards the male of the line.
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